Panther wrestler on a roll

January 04, 2007|TIM CREASON Tribune Correspondent

Kyle Long did his school proud when he won the 152-pound weight class championship at last week's Al Smith wrestling invitational. Now, Long wishes he could get his Washington High School classmates to show as much pride in the Panther wrestling team. "At Washington, it seems like all anybody cares about is basketball," said Long, who improved his season record to 26-2 and ended a long Panther dry spell at Mishawaka's huge holiday tournament. He defeated Princeton's Derek Agnew, 9-4, in the title bout. "We have a bunch of guys busting their butts every day but hardly anyone notices," said Long, who was ranked seventh in the state at 145 in the last coaches' power poll. "When I win, I do it for my school. I want to prove that I'm not all talk. We have good wrestlers at Washington and people should come out and support us." Long is on a roll these days, having won the Rochester Invitational a week before his huge Al Smith victory. Now, he's starting to think about a possible trip to the IHSAA individual state finals in February. He was chillin' Speaking of relaxed, it's hard to be calmer than Warsaw sophomore Justin Brooks, who swayed back and forth to the music on his headset during introductions for the Al Smith 112-pound finals. "I was just hiding how (nervous) I was," laughed Brooks, who defeated Lawrence North's Cashe' Quiroda, 10-4, to claim the championship and move his unbeaten string to 23 straight. To reach the final, Brooks had to survive a wild 6-4 overtime semifinal against Merrillville's Carlo Martinez. If he was ever shaken, Brooks never showed it. "I don't get hyped up any more," said Brooks. "I know what I'm supposed to do; it's just a matter of going out and executing." He's surprised? No wrestling fan is surprised to see Riley's George Malone win a big match any more. Well, except for maybe George Malone. Indiana's No. 1-ranked 215-pounder improved to 22-0 this season when he topped Penn's Jerimiah Maggart, 2-0, for the Al Smith title last Friday. "I'm always nervous. I'm always a little surprised," said Malone, whose first-period takedown held up till the end of the championship match. Malone makes a habit of winning close matches. Scores like 2-0, 3-2, are nothing unusual for Riley's mammoth junior. Does Riley coach Bill Flatt wish his star upperweight would score more points? "There are no losses on that record. Why does he need more points?" answered Flatt. The only thing Malone is certain about is that nothing is certain when he steps on the mat. "I never expect anything from anybody, because they change what they do after we've wrestled once or twice," said Malone. A student of the sport New Prairie senior Phil Oudhuis never really knew Frank Frasier, but he's heard about him. Until Oudhuis won the 160-pound weight class championship at Friday's Al Smith finale, Frasier was one of those almost-mythical characters that high school sports teams live with ... in this case, the last Cougar to win a Mishawaka championship, back in the 1990s. "Well, it's good to get that out of the way," quipped Oudhuis, now 15-1 on the season. Oudhuis worked a nice single leg into a hip dump late in the third period of his championship match against Bellmont's Ryan Baker, which he won by a 10-5 count. Watching Baker earlier in the tournament gave Oudhuis the idea for the move. On tap From the frying pan into the fire. Mishawaka, Northridge and Penn head to the meat-grinder Bellmont super dual this Saturday in Decatur. Before that, a full slate of Northern Indiana Conference dual meets is on tap this evening. A strong Culver Academy team will try to show how much it has improved this season at Saturday's Knox super dual.